The city of Indianapolis has added up the winning bids at its annual sale of tax-lien properties last week and the results are heartening:
A total of $5.2 million collected for back taxes that goes into the city’s coffers and $31.5 million in overbids that can be given to property owners if they don’t reclaim their properties.
“It’s been the best (sale) we’ve had since 2008,” said Marion County Treasurer Claudia O. Fuentes. “We are really, really happy with the number we actually sold.”
The treasurer’s office put the liens on 1,893 properties up for auction and sold 1,341, or 70 percent, Fuentes said. The properties in the sale owed a total of $9 million in back taxes and fees.
The auction is held annually to allow the public to bid on properties that have unpaid property taxes. Bids must at least cover the taxes owed on the property and owners have a year to retain title to their property by paying the taxes and other charges owed, plus interest to the bidder.
The auction in the past few years was much larger, with up to 8,000 properties offered. The number has dropped as the economy improved and fewer homeowners and businesses found themselves financially pressed and unable to afford
their property taxes, Fuentes said.Hundreds of properties at last week’s sale were sold to institutional investors, who’ve become a big presence in the Indianapolis home-buying market in the past year.
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